Appendix 2: Documentation Authoring Guide

• About this guide
  • Who is this guide for?
  • What is it about?
• Workflow
  • Setup Environment
  • Contributing using GitHub
• Style Guide
  • Headings
  • Lists
    • Ordered lists
    • List headings
  • Icons
  • Buttons
  • Hints
  • User Interface Elements
  • Screenshots
    • Types of screenshots
    • Requirements for all screenshots
    • Requirements for annotated screenshots
    • Screenshot captions
    • Bookmarlet for Screenshots

About this guide

Who is this guide for?

This guide is intended for parties interested in contributing to this documentation.

What is it about?

This guide describes a recommended workflow and required conventions to be used when creating content.

Workflow

Setup Environment

While the online editor may be used, the most efficient way to create documentation is to install the GitBook Toolchain locally. See https://toolchain.gitbook.com/ for detailed instructions. The short version follows.

1. Install gitbook-cli using npm:

    $ npm install gitbook-cli -g
   

2. Clone the mdEditor GitBook:

    $ git clone git@github.com:adiwg/mdEditor-doc.git
   

   or

    $ git clone https://github.com/adiwg/mdEditor-doc.git
   

3. Setup GitBook

    $ cd mdEditor-doc
    $ gitbook install
   

4. Start the local GitBook server

    $ gitbook serve
   

5. Open a browser to: http://localhost:4000

Contributing using GitHub

Fork this repository (click "fork" on the repository's home page in GitHub)

Clone the forked repository with git clone <your fork's url> and create a branch with git checkout -b some-branch-name.

As you make commits, reference the issue number, if any, in your commit message, such as git commit -m "added information on important subject (#62)"

Once you're at the point that you'd like feedback, submit a Pull Request (new Pull Request button). Choose master for the base and your branch name for compare, then submit it!

Your PR will be reviewed by another contributor, and then either merged or have changes requested.

Style Guide

This section covers styling conventions required for this documentations. Some of the conventions rely on plug-ins that enhance the native GitBook Markdown functionality. In some instances, the effects of the plugins are not displayed until after the book has been generated.

Headings

Please use headings to define page sections. Heading levels should appear sequentially without gaps (don't skip heading levels). Headings should start at Level 1 for the page title. Headings should not be used purely to define font styles - if absolutely necessary, use CSS for that. Following this convention will make it possible to parse the markdown programmatically, e.g. to dynamically create a table of contents.

Lists

Ordered lists

Ordered lists are processed irrespective of the actual number assigned to each list item. For Example:

1. first
2. second
3. third

is rendered the same as:

1. first
12. twelfth
30. thirtieth

Therefore, one recommended convention is to use 1. for every item in an ordered list. This makes it easier to insert or remove items from the list, at the expense of slightly less readable Markdown. If you choose to sequentially order the list items, you must make sure the numbers are sequential to avoid confusion.

List headings

Headings may be use in lists. However, special handling is required to ensure bullets for ordered lists are styled appropriately.

The tasks tag is available for styling "task lists". For simplicity, all of the various heading levels are styled the same.

Example without task tag

1. ## Level 2
1. ### Level 3
1. ###### Level 6

Example with task tag

<!-- tasks -->
1. ## Level 2
1. ### Level 3
1. ###### Level 6
<!-- endtasks -->

Icons

FontAwesome icons are available. Use an <i> tag to render the chosen icon.

<i class="fa fa-smile-o"> </i> Happy Birthday <i class="fa fa-birthday-cake"> </i>

Buttons

Bootstrap 3 style buttons are supported. Use a <span> tag since these are for documentation only. Icons may be combined with buttons.

Default Primary Success Info Extra - Small Warning - Small Danger - Large Link

<!-- Standard button -->
<span class="btn btn-default">Default</span>

<!-- Provides extra visual weight and identifies the primary action in a set of buttons -->
<span class="btn btn-primary">Primary</span>

<!-- Indicates a successful or positive action -->
<span class="btn btn-success"><i class="fa fa-check"> </i> Success</span>

<!-- Contextual button for informational alert messages -->
<span class="btn btn-info btn-xs">Info Extra - Small</span>

<!-- Indicates caution should be taken with this action -->
<span class="btn btn-warning btn-sm">Warning - Small</span>

<!-- Indicates a dangerous or potentially negative action -->
<span class="btn btn-danger btn-lg">Danger - Large</span>

<!-- Deemphasize a button by making it look like a link while maintaining button behavior -->
<span class="btn btn-link">Link</span>

Hints

Styled hint blocks are supported.

{% hint style='info' %}
Important info: this note needs to be highlighted
{% endhint %}

There are five supported variations.

• info (default)
• tip
• danger
• working
• plain

User Interface Elements

The following classes may be used to highlight text that refers to elements of the user interface:

<span class="md-window">window</span>
<span class="md-section">section</span>
<span class="md-panel">panel</span>
<span class="md-element">element</span>

Window Part Edit Window Section Panel Name panel element

Screenshots

Types of screenshots

1. basic screenshots have no annotation or markup applied
2. annotated screenshots have markup applied, e.g. callouts, highlights, etc.

Requirements for all screenshots

1. Minimum 1200px wide
2. Must include a caption
3. PNG format

4. Generally browser window captures should only contain minimum user interface controls, without navigation toolbar, tab bar, bookmarks toolbar, or status bar. See Bookmarlet for Screenshots.

   

5. Images should be stored in the assets directory corresponding to the section in which the image appears. Exceptions to this requirement are made for images used in multiple sections.

6. Image sizes should be as small as possible without sacrificing quality. Usually significant size reduction can be achieved by color-type or bit-depth reduction. pngcrush is a good tool for this.

Requirements for annotated screenshots

1. Use LibreOffice Draw to create the annotations
   • A template is available here /assets/documentation-guide/callouts-template.odg
   • Each screenshot should be placed on a new page
   • Whenever possible place annotations in callouts outside of the image or in a way that does not cover user interface elements
   • Export only the image by
     • selecting all content on the LibreOffice Draw page using cntl-A
     • choose 'Export ...' from the file menu
     • select 'PNG' from the 'Format' drop-down selection list
     • check the 'Selection' box on the Export window
     • click the 'Save' button
     • set the pixels width to 1200
     • choose a compression level of 6
     • click the 'OK' button
2. All annotated screenshots for a section should be stored on separate pages in a single .odg file.

3. Save the LibreOffice Draw file (.odg) in the same directory as the screenshots

   

Screenshot captions

To apply a caption to a screenshot use this syntax in the Markdown.

![caption goes here](/assets/path/to/image){caption}

To apply a border to a screenshot, add class=border.

![caption goes here](/assets/path/to/image){caption class=border}

Applying the {caption} to a image will also indent the image from the surrounding text.

Bookmarlet for Screenshots

Use this bookmarlet: Plain Window. Drag the link to your bookmarks bar or create a bookmark with the code below. Clicking the bookmark will open the current webpage in a plain window that is 1200px wide. Re-size to needed height and take a screenshot. More about bookmarlets here: https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookmarklet.

javascript:(function(){var windowObjectReference;var strWindowFeatures='menubar=no,location=yes,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=no,width=1200,height=1200';windowObjectReference=window.open(window.location.href,'Plain Window',strWindowFeatures);})();

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